Crist outraising Scott among local donors in main campaign account

But in the early going it is a very different story in Sarasota and Manatee counties, where Crist has raised almost twice as much from locals for his campaign account than Scott has for his main campaign account.

The most recent Campaign finance records show that Scott has raised $2.5 million overall in his main re-election campaign account. Crist, a former Republican now running as a Democrat, has raised $2.3 million.

But overall in Sarasota and Manatee counties Crist has an early advantage over Scott among local donors. Crist has raised just over $118,000 from donors in the two counties, according to the Florida Division of Elections. Scott meanwhile is just under $61,000 for his main re-election account.

Just among donors who listed Sarasota as their mailing address, Crist had raised $78,000 for his campaign. Scott collected $23,191 from Sarasota donors.

But while Crist has an early advantage locally, Sarasota Republican Party chairman Joe Gruters said that won’t last long. He said Scott has held fundraisers in the area, but the money went to a political committee he runs called Let’s Get to Work instead of his main campaign account. That account has already raised $27 million statewide.

As Scott has more events for his main campaign account, Gruters said Scott’s totals will blow past Crist, who is favored to be Scott's November general election opponent.

Crist has a second political account too. His Charlie Crist for Florida committee has raised $5.3 million statewide.

The political committee can be used to for political purposes, but not directly to advocate for people to vote for Scott or Crist. For instance, money in Scott’s account was used to pay for ads blasting Crist for supporting the Affordable Care Act, but never directly encourages people to vote for Scott.

Scott’s Let’s Get to Work account has had the benefit of allowing Scott to raise far more from fewer donors than a traditional campaign account, which limits donors to $3,000 each. Instead Scott was able collect more $100,000 checks from just 91 donors for his Let’s Get to Work committee. Crist collected checks $100,000 or more from 16 donors for his political committee.

Jeremy Wallace

Jeremy Wallace has covered politics for more than 15 years.
He can be reached by email or call (941) 361-4966.
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Last modified: April 21, 2014
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